[en] Highlights: • Thick (up to 40 µm) layers of Si nanoparticles (Si NP) are deposited directly. • This carbon / binder free Si NP deposition is directly used as the LIB anode. • A protective, one-off solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer is formed. • Excellent areal capacity retention and cycling stability are achieved. Nanostructured silicon has been intensively investigated as a high capacity Li-ion battery anode. However, the commercial introduction still requires advances in the scalable synthesis of sophisticated Si nanomaterials and electrodes. Moreover, the electrode degradation due to volume changes upon de-/lithiation, low areal electrode capacity, and application of large amounts of advanced conductive additives are some of the challenging aspects. Here we report a Si electrode, prepared from direct deposition of Si nanoparticles on a current collector without any binder or conducting additives, that addresses all of the above issues. It exhibits an excellent cycling stability and a high capacity retention taking advantages of what appears to be a locally protective, yolk-shell reminiscent, solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation. Cycling an electrode with a Si nanoparticle loading of 2.2 mg cm⁻² achieved an unrivalled areal capacity retention, specifically, up to 4.2 mAh cm⁻² and ~ 1.5 mAh cm⁻² at 0.8 mA cm⁻² and 1.6 mA cm⁻², respectively.